Joseph Smith
Pure Youth
The scriptures tell us that no unclean thing can be in God’s presence. That being the case, what does this say about the Father and the Son appearing to the boy, Joseph Smith? Kneeling there in that sacred grove, a place of solitude, was a pure 14-year-old boy. He went there with a burning desire to know, to be forgiven of his sins, to obtain direction, and to be good. He went there repenting. He was clean. He was pure, or God could not have come to him.
Read MoreJoseph Smith’s Vocabulary
How is it that a barely-schooled farm boy of the early 1800s could have acquired the vocabulary that Joseph Smith possessed? I have several observations about Joseph and his abilities.
Read MoreArthur Henry King
There is an entry in my journal about Arthur Henry King. Arthur Henry King was a professor at BYU for four years—the exact time that I was there as a student—and I didn’t get to have him as a professor! After reading the entry in my journal, I’m sick about that all over again. Let me tell you about Arthur Henry King.
Read MoreThe Restoration
My noble, non-member grandfather asked an astute question that he had no way of answering, but that you and I can. He asked the question because of some marvelous observations that he’d made. He wrote the following sometime in the decade before his death in 1962:
Read MoreTurning Up the Lights
Joseph said that he went to the woods “on the morning of a beautiful, clear day.” He may have knelt in the shade; but if it was cool, and since he was obviously enjoying the feel of the spring day, he probably knelt in the sunshine.
Read MoreJoseph Smith’s 200th Birthday (newspaper version)
Latter-day Saints have cause to celebrate: December 23rd is the 200th birthday of their church’s founder, Joseph Smith. They’ve been celebrating all year, holding extravaganzas of dance, music, and plays.
Read MoreJoseph Smith’s 200th Birthday
Latter-day Saints the world over have cause to celebrate: December 23rd is (was) the 200th birthday of their church’s founder, Joseph Smith.
And celebrate they are. They’ve been doing it all year. From Seoul to San Diego, and from Portland to Portugal they’ve been holding extravaganzas of dance, music, plays and parties.
Joseph Smith, The Prophet
I was born in 1947, just over 100 years after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I didn’t know him in life, and I never knew anything about him for the first 20 years of my life
Read MoreThe Law of Witnesses
The law of witnesses states: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” (D&C 6:28).
Read MoreMt. Tambora
The volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa on 10 April 1815 caused devastating effects around the world. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives, and the lives of millions of others were affected.
Read MoreHagoth and the Polynesians
I watched a documentary video last week that set my imagination working. The documentary concerned the possible route that Lehi and his family took to get to the Promised Land. The record states that they left Jerusalem and went southeast along the border of the Red Sea. They went as far as a place called Nahom where Ishmael died. From that point on they traveled nearly eastward until they came to a place they named Bountiful because of its much honey and fruit. There they were instructed by the Lord to build a ship. The record states that they found ore with which to make tools so that they could work the timbers of the ship. The trip from Jerusalem to Bountiful took them 8 years.
Read MoreJacob Chapter 5
Each time I reread the parable of the tame and wild olive trees in Jacob chapter 5, I receive more insights, and become more and more impressed with it. It’s a masterpiece. It was written by the prophet Zenos, somewhere in the Holy Land, sometime before 600 B.C. It spells out in some detail what would be the future of the Americas, of all places.
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